Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever shows what kind of Wakanda awaits us after Chadwick Boseman and winks at upcoming productions.
It must be admitted that the Marvel Cinematic Universe went through a very painful period after Avengers: Endgame. Of course, even the most beautiful stories were still encountering very good examples in a universe that focused on action and heroes. Frankly, as a viewer who loves to follow Marvel movies and consumes all the content that comes out, this phase is full of disappointments for me. I talked about this before in my Thor: Love and Thunder review article.
With the expansion of the universe and the influence of Disney+, the number of content has increased considerably. But I also think that the quality of these content is gradually moving away from old productions. Of course, there are good projects and episodes from time to time, but in general, we can say that we see that this phase is the worst period in the MCU. Well, in the light of all this, if we look at Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever, I can say that we should have guessed more or less what awaited us.
Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever review
Of course, when Wakanda Forever was announced, we all had in mind the untimely departure of Chadwick Boseman. A short time later, he announced that the production team would not make a substitution, that is, no other actor would be chosen instead of this character and the scenario would be shaped accordingly. Wakanda Forever begins with explaining this situation to the audience.
It is possible to say that the death of King T’Challa had such an effect as the destruction of half of the entire universe. Of course, the fact that the actor lost his life not only in the movie but also in reality has a great role in this situation. The general tone of the film is based on a farewell to King T’Challa, Chadwick Boseman, and laying the groundwork for the following period.
The main focus of the story is again vibranium and its effects on the whole world. While powerful countries, especially the United Nations, want vibranium trade, Wakanda is opposed to this event, even though they have opened up to the world as they have done for centuries. At this point, I actually started to think that a little political tension would be added, but the movie glossed over this event with a few scenes without ever getting into those balls, and I think it backfired a great opportunity. Although the end of the matter is tied to the inclusion of Tolakan in the story, I thought that the tone of the movie could have been much different while watching it.
In this structure of the film, we also watch Shuri’s effort to find herself. The character’s time as Black Panther lags behind this story of self-discovery. Because although he exhibits a successful portrait in general, he turns into a character who is crushed under the Black Panther costume. She has to move away from her profile in the first movie and Avengers movies before, and this transition doesn’t have the expected effect. Boseman’s untimely death forced this transition as well as making it happen very harshly. Although the film is long, this process has been handled so badly that you cannot feel that effect even when you see the character in costume or in action for the first time.
Despite the bad action that followed, there was a spirit in the first movie to be so successful. We’ve seen that cultural intonation beautifully reflected in the film. Wakanda Forever, on the other hand, had a hard time keeping this tone even though we saw a whole new kingdom. The movie has a duration of close to three hours, but it seems that it falters a lot both in the narration and in the presentation in this transition. The plot puts the two kingdoms against each other well, but this encounter is very uninspiring. One of the most important reasons for this is due to the increased expectation in the movie.
Some preferred scenes and dialogues are based on escalating the plot. However, that climb did not happen, and on the contrary, you see that the pace of the movie is very bumpy. Of course, one of the most important actors of this climb is Namor.
Frankly, there was a lot of discussion for the character of Namor before the movie came out, but I’m not someone who pays much attention to these discussions. In other words, the type can change, the character can be adapted to the movie in a different way, it doesn’t have much effect on me. However, the character of Namor causes contradictions within himself in the movie. The scenes that appear after the emergence of the character, explaining his powers and focusing on how crowded the Tolakan soldiers are, leave you a little disappointed. Of course, I don’t want to give spoilers here, but I can say that the story of this character went up and down and I was very upset.
As a result, although Wakanda Forever manages to be a distraction and fun from time to time, unfortunately it was not a production that satisfied me, although I went with low expectations. As I said, not being able to see much on the action side and spending nearly three hours with bad dialogues and plot despite all the good material at hand, as someone who loves Marvel movies, made me very sad. Now I have completely turned my hopes to the movie Quantumania, where we will see the real Kang. I hope this movie manages to fuel our love for the MCU.
Note: There is one after credits scene in the movie. So after watching the mid credits scene, you can leave the hall with peace of mind.